Avengers West Coast #65
The Reaper and the Robot Part One: Whatsoever a Man Soweth…
Credits
Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, has come to pay his respects at his brother Eric’s grave. He finds it bitterly funny that he has an easier time talking to his brother now that he is dead. He recalls how, growing up, Eric was always the risk taker. When they grew up and Simon took over the family business, Eric was more interested in gambling than helping out and later joined the mob. Simon isn’t one to talk, as he got caught in an embezzlement scandal shortly thereafter. He was then tricked into being turned into Wonder Man by Baron Zemo in an effort to destroy the Avengers. In the end, the process that gave Simon his powers seemingly killed him in the end.
He remembers how Eric sought to avenge his brother’s death and reinvented himself as the Grim Reaper. For a time, the Reaper accused the Vision — whose mind was based on Simon’s brain engrams — of stealing his brothers life. Even when Simon returned to life, the Reaper had a hard time accepting that he was back. Ultimately, Eric was forced to see the truth and seeing the bond between Wonder Man and the Vision committed suicide. Although Eric’s girlfriend Nekra had briefly resurrected Eric as a zombie recently, Simon has had his body buried so he can finally be at peace.[1] Simon apologizes to his brother for drifting apart but feels that they are closer in death than they have been in life. Simon then returns to his Quinjet and leaves.
Moments after he is gone, the Grim Reaper digs his way out of his grave, having been resurrected as a zombie once more by his lover Nekra. She explains to him that she has mastered the art of reanimation making Eric’s resurrection more permanent. However, he will need to kill and absorb he life force of someone living every 24 hours in order to ensure his survival. When Nekra suggests that the cemetery ground’s keeper be the Reaper’s first victim, she is shocked when Eric kills her instead. As he absorbs Nekra’s life energies, he tells her that he is killing her instead because he is tired of others telling him what to do.[2]
When Wonder Man returns to Avengers Compound, it is just as the other members of the Avengers are breaking up a fight between Hawkeye and US Agent.[3] With the fight over, Wanda decides to hand back and talk to Simon in private. She wants to thank him for all the kindness that he has shown her since recovering from her recent trials.[4] However, with her powers still gone she wonders if her career as the Scarlet Witch is over. When Simon suggests they go out for dinner, Wanda decides to accept the offer because it’ll be fun.
Meanwhile, at an abandoned gun emplacement along the California coast, a cult of Satanists have their mystical ceremony interrupted by the arrival of the Grim Reaper. When they try to attack the intruder, the Reaper slaughters them all taking perverse joy in draining them of their life forces.
At that same time, Simon and Wanda are sitting down to dinner at a local taco joint. There, Simon is visited by fans who ask for his autograph. Simon is surprised that they have little idea that he’s a member of the Avengers. The scene is interrupted when one of the cultists comes barging into the restaurant pleading for help. She manages to mention the Grim Reaper’s name before collapsing to the floor and dies. There are two officers on the scene and they decide to investigate the bunker the dead woman mentioned. Simon and Wanda then use their Avengers credentials to tag along for the ride. When they arrive, Simon tells the others to wait outside while he goes in to see if its safe. Once inside the bunker he is immediately attacked by his brother the Grim Reaper. Simon is both surprised to see his brother back from the dead but is also horrified that he slaughtered the cultists.
The ensuing fight draws in the officers who open fire on the Grim Reaper. Unfortunately, the bullets have no effect on his undead body. Hungry for a fresh life force, the Reaper attempts to drain it from his brother. However, something about Simon’s ionic powers prevents Eric from draining his life force and actually weakens him instead. He then turns to Wanda who tries in vein to ward him off with her hex powers, but they are still not working. With no other options, Wanda kicks over a nearby lantern to plunge the bunker in darkness. It’s then that Wonder Man recovers and confronts his brother again. Needing to replenish his own life force and the situation now out of his control, the Grim Reaper flees into the night. Emerging from the bunker themselves, Simon tells Wanda that he must hunt down Eric and put a stop to him once and for all, or else all the blood spilled will be on his hands.
Meanwhile, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne are driving through San Luis Obispo when their car gets a flat. Luckily, they are near a farm house, although Hank doesn’t understand why people would want to live in this area after they started spraying Malathion pesticides. The couple that live on the farm are friendly and welcoming but don’t have a jack to spare so Hank can change the tire on their car rental. Since they have no other choice, Hank uses his Pym Particles to enlarge Rover, his personal aircraft. Once the craft has been enlarged, Janet smells something burning. They two then watch in horror as the farmer and his wife suddenly explode. Leaping out of the way of the blast, the two are surprised to discover that the couple were actually robots. Unsure what this all means, Hank and Janet both agree that they need to return to Los Angeles and tell the other Avengers about this. Little do they know that they are being observed remotely by Ultron, the mastermind behind this bizarre plot.[5]
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Hank Pym, Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, US Agent), Quicksilver, Grim Reaper, Nekra, Ultron
Continuity Notes
There is a lot of Wonder Man/Grim Reaper history on display here. Lets break it all down:
Simon and Eric’s early life were first explored in detail in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2.
Simon got caught in an embezzlement scandal in Avengers #9. This led to Baron Zemo convincing him to undergo the ionic energy treatment that turned him into Wonder Man. His mission was to infiltrate and destroy the Avengers, being told that a side effect of his new powers would claim his life within 24 hours unless he got an antidote. In the end, Simon turned on Zemo and seemingly died.
Before his death, the Avengers made a copy of Simon’s brain engrams. This copy was later used by Ultron to create the Vision as seen in Avengers #57-58 and 134-135.
Learning of his brother’s death, Eric Williams blamed the Avengers and began terrorizing them in Avengers #52.
One of the flashback sequences here is when the Grim Reaper stole Simon’s body and offered to transfer the Vision’s mind into it. The Vision ultimately refused this preverbal deal with the devil. See Avengers #102 and 106-108.
It was later revealed that Simon didn’t actually die. Instead he went into a death-like state as his body metamorphosized into pure ionic energy. See Avengers #151 and 164 for all the details.
When confronted with both the Vision and the revived Wonder Man, the Grim Reaper sought to determine which one was really his brother starting in Avengers #160 and Vision and the Scarlet Witch #3.
The Reaper ultimately was forced to realize the truth about his brother and committed suicide as penance for his past crimes. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1-2 and Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-2.
Nekra briefly resurrected Eric as a zombie in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #12 and was unsuccessful a second time in Web of Spider-Man #46.
Nekra will later be reanimated by Daimon Hellstorm in Druid #4.
Mention is made about how Hawkeye made a fool of himself the last time he tried throwing a punch as US Agent, this was in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #45.
Wanda has been recovering after Immortus attempted to use her nexus powers to alter all reality. She drained herself of this power to prevent him from succeeding as seen in Avengers West Coast #60-62. Wanda’s powers will remain on the fritz until issue #67.
If you’re confused about what Ultron is up to, we’ll learn over the next three issues that his current scheme is to use a special gas to transform all humans into robots.
Toro, Toro, Toro…
The Human Torch has resumed his search for the location here his old wartime partner Toro has been buried following his death. Along with him is Anne Raymond, Toro’s widow. They return to the scene where Toro was reported to have been seen: Along the coast in a life-and-death battle with the Sub-Mariner. At the time, Toro had been brainwashed by the Mad Thinker to fight Namor and in the end he died in battle.[1]
That’s when the Mad Thinker appears and begins taunting the Human Torch.[2] He also mentions how Toro had died on Lisianski Island. When the Torch flames on and tries to engage in his foe, a massive whale-creature emerges from the water and attacks him. After the Torch drives off the whale monster the Mad Thinker has already fled. Although the villain has escaped, he has provided a vital clue as to where they might find Toro’s body. The Torch and Anne then head back for the airport to book a flight to Lisianski Island.
After they are gone, the “Mad Thinker” emerges from the ocean and strips off his life-like mask. As it turns out, the Torch wasn’t confronted by the Mad Thinker at all, but the Sub-Mariner in disguise. Namor put on this deception in order renew the Torch’s drive to find Toro’s body and lay it to rest.[3]
Recurring Characters
Human Torch, Anne Raymond, Sub-Mariner, Giganto, (in flashback) Toro
Continuity Notes
Toro’s death occurred in Sub-Mariner #14. It should be noted that after this story we never hear about the search for Toro’s remains again. However, it will appear that the Torch and Anne were successful when she finally do see Toro’s grave in Avengers/Invaders #12, the story where he is resurrected from the dead.
Here, the Mad Thinker recounts how he also revived the Human Torch. This was briefly in Fantastic Four Annual #4 so he could pit the android against Johnny Storm, his modern day successor. That battle ended with the Torch being deactivated. Avengers Forever #8 reveals that Immortus then stepped in and created a chronal duplicate of the Torch as part of a wider scheme to manipulate the Avengers. On Torch was taken by Ultron and rebuilt into the Vision as seen in Avengers #134-135, while the other (the Torch seen in this story) was buried in a grave until he was reactivated in Avengers West Coast #50.
Here, the Sub-Mariner states that he used this disguise because he was not yet ready to reveal to the world that he is still alive. The Sub-Mariner was reportedly killed in Iron Man Annual #11, during the Atlantis Attacks crisis. He was seriously injured and spent the rest of the event recuperator before he resurfaced (ha ha) in Fantastic Four Annual #22. From there on though, he has been keeping his survival more-or-less unknown to the general public. Namor’s survival won’t become known to the general public until Namor the Sub-Mariner #5.
